1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mobile communication, and more particularly, to a method for protecting data stored in a lost mobile terminal and a recording medium for storing data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, widely commercialized portable telephones have been provided with various functions such as an electronic organizer function in addition to a basic communication function. To use the electronic organizer function, a user stores various data, for example, telephone numbers, encrypted information, card numbers, text, voice information and multimedia information, in a portable telephone.
There may be important information which must not be revealed to others, among data stored in a portable telephone. If the user has not password-protected the data to lock the data when storing the data in the portable telephone, in a case where the user loses the portable telephone, the data stored in the portable telephone 320 may be compromised.
According to conventional technologies, when a user loses their portable telephone, the user can report the loss to a network operator 310 which supports communication service and request the operator to interrupt and cancel the communication service with respect to the lost portable telephone. However, data stored in the portable telephone 320 cannot be protected. Consequently, there is a high possibility that the data, which is stored in the portable telephone, can be revealed to a person who finds the portable telephone.
To solve the above problems, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a method for protecting data stored in a lost mobile terminal, in which, when an owner loses their mobile terminal, the owner 300 of the lost mobile terminal can directly make data, which is stored in the lost mobile terminal, unreadable or remove the data using protection control information.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a method for protecting data stored in a lost mobile terminal, in which, when an owner loses his/her mobile terminal, through a base station, the owner 300 of the lost mobile terminal can make data, which is stored in the lost mobile terminal, unreadable or remove the data using protection control information.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a recording medium for storing program codes for a data protection method which is performed in a mobile terminal.
It is still yet another objective of the present invention to provide a recording medium for storing program codes for a data protection method which is supported by a base station.
Accordingly, to achieve the first and/or other objectives in one embodiment, there is provided a method for protecting data which is stored in a lost mobile terminal. The method includes the steps of (a) transmitting protection control information, which is provided by a user who has lost the mobile terminal, to the lost mobile terminal using a communication apparatus chosen arbitrarily by the user, (b) receiving and discriminating the protection control information in the lost mobile terminal, (c) comparing user identifying information included in the protection control information with information which is previously stored in the lost mobile terminal, and (d) processing the data which is stored in the lost mobile terminal according to a data protection request of the user, the data protection request included in the protection control information, when the user identifying information is identical to the information previously stored in the lost mobile terminal.
To achieve the second and/or other objectives in another embodiment, there is provided a method for protecting data which is stored in a lost mobile terminal. The method includes the steps of (a) requesting data protection service of a base station using a communication apparatus chosen arbitrarily by a user who has lost the mobile terminal, (b) authenticating the user""s identity in the base station, (c) transmitting protection control information, which is provided by the user, via the base station to the lost mobile terminal if the user""s identity is authenticated, (d) receiving and discriminating the protection control information in the lost mobile terminal, (e) comparing user identifying information included in the protection control information with information which is previously stored in the lost mobile terminal, and (f) processing the data which is stored in the lost mobile terminal according to the data protection request of the user, the data protection request included in the protection control information, when the user identifying information is identical to the information previously stored in the lost mobile terminal.
To achieve the third and/or other objectives, there is provided a recording medium for storing a data protection method, which is performed by a mobile terminal, in the form of program codes which can be executed in a computer. The program codes are made to execute the steps of discriminating protection control information, which is provided by a user and a base station for data protection, from a received short message; comparing user identifying information and, if necessary, network identifying information, included in the protection control information with information which is previously stored in the recording medium to correspond to the protection control information; and processing the data stored in the mobile terminal according to the user""s data protection request included in the protection control information when the protection control information is identical to the previously stored information.
To achieve the fourth and/or other objectives, there is provided a recording medium for storing a data protection method, which is supported by a base station to be performed on data, which is stored in a lost mobile terminal, in the form of program codes which can be executed in a computer. The program codes are made to execute the steps of authenticating the identity of a user when the user requests data protection service; receiving protection control information which is provided by the user for protecting the data, which is stored in the lost mobile terminal, if the identity of the user is authenticated; adding protection control information provided by a base station when necessary, if the protection control information received from the user is encrypted text; and transmitting the protection control information to the lost mobile terminal using short message service.